Nightmares
by Lucy Heartbreaker
Summary: Lucy and Natsu have to share a sleeping bag, seems simple enough, until Natsu has a small nightmare causing Lucy to try to comfort him. Nalu one-shot, nothing more nothing less!
"Jeez I don't understand..."

Lucy grumbled a bit under her breath as she stood at the foot of a sleeping bag. In her arms she held her pillow, her face flushed with red as she felt nothing but embarrassment. It's not as if she had to sleep outside for the first time, this was normal when she had gone on long jobs. However, this time it was different.

This time, she had to share a sleeping bag, and not just with anyone, with her very loud pink haired partner. He took up most of her bed back at her home, and his snoring wasn't the most pleasant thing to go to sleep to. Long story short, she wasn't really looking forward to it.

Though, this wasn't the main reason why she wasn't looking forward to it. Another was due to to the fact that they had to be so _close._ Sure there was many a time where they had invaded each others personal space but this was accidentally. When they did it purposefully, well, it was another story.

"Natsu, leave room for me!" She grumbled, using her foot to poke at his side and tried to move him over. It was no use however as he was already deep in his slumber. Next to him was Happy who was also deep in sleep, mumbling inaudible words about fish.

The blonde glared at them both wondering just how someone can be a heavy sleeper, especially in the middle of a forest. She would have to take matters into her own hands, there was no way she would be forced to sleep on the dirty ground and lose sleep!

Luckily for her the bag was big enough for two people and she could easily squeeze in. She wasted no time in kneeling down, grabbing the blankets and lifting them up so she could wiggle herself into the comfy confines. When she had situated herself next to the dragon slayer and the blue exceed she sighed contently and put her pillow down so she could lie her head back.

Finally, she was ready to get some rest and she wasted no time in closing her eyes with a smile. Just when she was about to drift off into the sweet darkness known as sleep, she heard mumbling next to her.

She quickly opened one of her eyes and glanced over to the pink dragon slayer next to her. _"Ah boy."_ She thought. _"He talks in his sleep too?"_

It was obvious he was dreaming, and from the way his face contorted into a frown and his eyebrows furrowed it was clear it wasn't a good dream. Lucy opened both of her eyes and watched him with concern, watching as he soon broke out into a sweat from how much strain he was in.

"Mgh..." His eyelids were shut as tightly as they can go, his breathing had become heavier and he clutched the sheets that had been placed over them. "Lucy... Wait..."

Lucy's eyes widened when she had heard her name slip from his mouth. Why was he saying her name and why was he having such a horrible dream on top of it?

She decided that she couldn't let him lie there and go through the nightmare. Sitting up from her position, she wasted no time in placing one of her hands over his cheek. She gently stroked it with her thumb, glancing down to his face with a frown hoping that she would be able to soothe him even a little bit.

"It's okay, silly." She spoke softly, hoping that this wouldn't startle him and wake him with a start. "You're fine, I'm here."

As she continued to speak soft and gentle words towards him, his expression had begun to relax just a bit. Although beads of sweat still formed on his forehead, his eyebrows had rose and his face became peaceful again. She smiled at this, lowering herself just a bit as she slowly pulled her hand away from his cheek.

She was stopped suddenly when she felt a hand grasp at hers before she could fully pull it away. She gasped slightly, but realized it was just the hand of Natsu. She nervously glanced down to his face expecting to see a wide awake Natsu staring back, but he was still fast asleep. Or so it seemed.

"Eh?" She spoke to herself, looking to her hand as her cheeks were brushed with a slight tint of red. Although he was asleep his grip was just like it would be when he was awake and this puzzled her.

"You're warm."

Lucy felt shivers roll up her spine and she gulped, her hand not being released from the grip it was taken in. Natsu's eyes soon opened as he gazed back into hers, causing Lucy to freeze up in alarm.

"D-don't scare me like that, gosh." She was quick to say, unable to form other words due to her embarrassment. She was silently hoping he didn't realize what she had done a few minutes before, but it was certain he was aware.

He didn't say anything, instead he simply chuckled and let go of her hand. "Thanks Lucy." He spoke finally, glancing away from her. Lucy rubbed her hand shyly and looked back to him surprised with the sudden thankfulness of him.

"I didn't do anything..." she spoke confused, raising an eyebrow. He closed his eyes again and soon turned to face her, eyes open again and intently staring at her. The stare was held for a few seconds, Lucy's embarrassment being the only thing that tore it. "W-what?"

"I... had a pretty bad dream." He finally admitted, rubbing the back of his head nervously. His nervous side was something she didn't get to experience often and she was taken aback by it.

"That was for sure." She replied, not sure how to reply to something like that. She wanted to help him of course, but she didn't know how aside from that small gesture.

He didn't say anything again, and instead he scooted himself to the side so that she would have more room to lie down. After he did this, he held out an arm towards her keeping his gaze off somewhere else. Lucy was confused by the gesture, not exactly sure what he was asking.

"Eh?" She spoke once again, eyes blinking as she looked down to his arm. This caused him to furrow his eyebrows and soon a faint blush could be seen on his cheeks.

"I know this is weird, but... you somehow know how to calm me down so..." He said, visibly gulping after. It took her a while to put two and two together, but she soon realized that he was asking her to cuddle.

Although she realized this, her brain couldn't really process it. Here was Natsu Dragneel, the guy who would run head first into a battle with the most deadliest enemy, asking her to cuddle. She wasn't sure how to take it, and she stared at him for a while.

"You don't have to if you don't-"

"N-no," The blond cut him off, looking down at the ground with a bashful expression. "I don't mind it, if it's you."

She had barely realized the last part slipped out when she lied back down next to him, her head resting on his shoulder as he put his arm around her form and brought her closer to his chest. She placed a hand on it, feeling his soft heartbeat beat against her hand very softly. It was oddly soothing, and as the pace of the breeze picked up she found herself snuggling closer to him for the warmth.

She slowly closed her eyes after a while, listening to his steady heartbeat had been like a lullaby and she was soon drifting off into sleep. The last thing she heard was barely audible, but she knew that it was something sweet coming from her best friend.

"Sweet dreams, Luce."

...

 **A/N:** A short and simple little fluffy one-shot! Hope you guys enjoyed, and as always, stay awesome!


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